Credit: Ted Fitzgerald

Speaker of the House Robert DeLeo addresses the media outside his office this morning where he called for Commissioner of the Department of Children and Families, Olga Roche, to resign after two more children’s deaths under agency’s watch.

Credit: Stuart Cahill

SIX MONTHS LATER: Olga Roche retired quietly Friday, days after her 60th birthday and nearly six months after her ouster as head of DCF.

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Speaker of the House Robert DeLeo, citing the “complete mismanagement” of the Department of Children and Families, today called on beleaguered commissioner Olga Roche to step down in what marks the strongest pressure yet on Gov. Deval Patrick to make a change — but the governor said he is not sure the resignation would be “an adequate solution.”

Senate President Therese Murray, state Attorney General Martha Coakley and the social workers' union all back DeLeo's call for Roche to resign.

DeLeo, speaking to reporters outside his State House office, said the news this past weekend of two children’s deaths under the agency’s watch forced his hand after months of questions over Roche’s ability to lead the embattled department. More than two dozen other lawmakers had already called for her head, though to this point Patrick has resisted firing her.

“Quite frankly, I am angered,” DeLeo said while state Rep. David Linsky, who chairs one of the House committees probing DCF, stood at his side. “It shows to me a complete mismanagement on behalf of DCF. We have to take strong action. We can’t wait until the end of the year, we can’t wait for a new governor to maybe bring in a new commissioner. We have to take that action now. We have to straighten out this situation.”

Gov. Deval Patrick office said in a statement this evening: “As the governor said earlier today, it is intolerable and upsetting that the lives of children are being lost. Commissioner Roche, Secretary Polanowicz and Governor Patrick met this afternoon to discuss the cases in Grafton and Fitchburg. The governor is reviewing the information provided to him in that conversation in order to assess the appropriate next steps for the Department and the families it serves.”

Earlier in the day at Logan International Airport, Patrick said: “The question is, how do we get to the solutions?"

As for Roche stepping down, he said, "You know, I’m not confident that is an adequate solution. But she has some questions to answer for me. ... I have posed some questions. They have not been answered adequately. When they are, I’ll come back to you.”

DeLeo’s call follows news that Grafton police had asked DCF to investigate the potential abuse and/or neglect of an infant, but DCF misplaced the fax from police for six days. By the time the agency started investigating, the baby, Aliana Lavigne, had died.

DCF officials have said Grafton police also should have called to alert them, which DeLeo acknowledged today “probably” should have been done. Grafton’s police chief told the Herald Saturday that his officers “did what they were supposed to do.”

“But in any case the evidence is there that a fax was sent and the fax was neglected to be looked at,” DeLeo said, who called the situation “the end of the line for me,” noting that less than two weeks ago police also recovered the body of Jeremiah Oliver, the Fitchburg 5-year-old who had been missing since September while under DCF’s watch. Three workers were fired in the wake of the case.

“These are major incidents,” DeLeo said. “We have children who are dying at this point.”

The Worcester district attorney’s office is investigating Aliana’s April 11 death, as well as the death Saturday of 2-week-old Bailey Irish of Fitchburg. Bailey’s family had been receiving services from DCF since October 2012, according to a DCF spokeswoman. DCF last visited the Irish family on March 26, and another home visit was attempted last Friday but was rescheduled because the family wasn’t home.

DeLeo’s call for Roche’s resignation drew quick support from the attorney general, the Senate president and the social workers’ union.

“I believe that she needs to leave and other changes need to be made in that agency,” Coakley, a Democratic gubernatorial candidate said. “ I think the confidence of the public in this agency is at a low ebb and I think it needs to be restored.”

Coakley called the commissioner’s job the “toughest job in the state,” but didn’t attribute blame for the department’s ongoing issues to Patrick, saying DCF has “presented incredibly heartbreaking challenges every single year,” under both Democratic and Republican governors.

“This is something it think everybody recognizes that we need to do better on,” Coakley said. “I’m hopeful that the governor is going to be able to make those changes in the short run and I think he can. ... We need to do better.”

“Recent tragedies highlight the need to address problems within the Department and the entire agency needs to be examined,” Murray (D-Plymouth) said in a statement. “In combination with Commissioner Roche’s resignation, we need to make sure we are bringing someone in to turn this agency around and providing the necessary resources to support their work. We are experiencing a serious crisis regarding the safety of our children and we need real leadership now.”

“From the worsening caseload crisis to ongoing management, communication and resource allocation challenges, front-line social workers and investigators have continually raised serious concerns over systemic barriers at the Department of Children & Families,” SEIU Local 509 spokesman Jason A Stephany said in a statement. “Today’s announcement reinforces child protection workers’ call for true accountability, real investment and institutional reform at the Department of Children & Families. .”

DeLeo floated the idea of bringing in a former commissioner to replace Roche, but added that “more than anything else right now, I think you need a strong manager that can come in and just get that place just running properly,” regardless if he or she has experience within DCF.

Patrick, who isn’t running for a third term, has said it wouldn’t benefit the agency to make a leadership change with only months until he leaves office in January. But DeLeo said he is “very hopeful” someone would welcome the short-lived role of reformer.

“I think there are folks who would like the challenge to straighten out an agency such as this,” he said.

Both DeLeo and Linsky said that fixing the problems go beyond extra funding, or as DeLeo put it, a “simple budget amendment.”

“It’s not money, it’s not personnel. It’s simply a failure of leadership and failure of management,” Linsky said. “And we know that

DCF has a very difficult job. ... But we just cannot tolerate the level of performance that they have been doing.

“They need new leadership, they need to be managed properly,” he continued. “It’s unfortunate but the governor needs to do it today. He needs to put a new team in place today.”

DeLeo said his chief of staff told Patrick’s chief of staff that he intended to call for Roche’s resignation this morning.

“The speaker has my telephone number,” Patrick said at his own press conference at the unrelated event at Logan. “I expect to hear from him in due course.”